Now, the Towing and Recovery Association of America (TRAA) and a seasonal propane-hauling fleet have also requested exemptions from the ELD rule.

The TRAA (Towing and Recovery Association of America) has requested a five-year exemption from the FMCSA’s ELD mandate. This exemption request is for all tow truck drivers for when they are providing towing, recovery, and roadside repair services.

The group filing the exemption request — TRAA — represents more than 35,000 towing companies across the United States of America.

The Towing and Recovery Association of America (TRAA) highlights in its exemption request that most tow truck drivers work within the short-haul exemption. However, they occasionally do not qualify for the short-haul exemption for more than 8 days in a 30-day period and, therefore, have to maintain paper logs for either their driving radius or hours worked.

The tow truck drivers group also mentions that their drivers often switch between interstate and intrastate regulations more than once per day. Moreover, throughout their shifts, their drivers also switch between commercial and non-commercial vehicles.

In its exemption request, TRAA says that using electronic logging devices would be an “undue burden” to them since their drivers would only need to keep logs for a small part of their daily operations.

The group also says that “towers’ responsiveness to their customers and the monitoring public would be severely reduced, and costs of towing services would increase commeasurably [sic]” in case there is no exemption from the ELD mandate from them.

The FMCSA is seeking comments on the ELD exemption request by TRAA until February 9, 2018. Comments can be made here.

On the other hand, STC Inc. — a 75-truck fleet that transports propane fuel and anhydrous ammonia and operates seasonally — has also requested an ELD mandate exemption citing the reason that it can’t afford the cost of compliance.

According to the 75-truck fleet, warm winters have negatively affected its revenues and, therefore, the fleet is unable to afford the installation of electronic logging devices and compliance with the FMCSA’s ELD mandate.

STC Inc. also mentions that the company doesn’t operate throughout the year. Instead, it operates seasonally (its operations are dependent on the weather).

The company says that its drivers would continue using paper logs if the ELD exemption is granted.

The FMCSA is seeking comments on STC’s exemption request until February 9, 2018. Comments can be made here.

What’s next?

Many trucking groups and fleets are requesting the FMCSA for ELD mandate exemptions. However, it is unlikely that the agency would grant these exemptions.